Buscaglia's Bills-Chiefs All-22 Takeaways include Oliver playing well and the Interior OL being overpowered

[WideNine]

On 1/30/2021 at 5:03 PM, Hapless Bills Fan said:

 

Are there any guys who are good Center/Guard candidates?

 

I love me some Mongo but I'm not sold on everybody's "let's cut Mitch Morse to save $5M and plug Mongo in at center" notions (among other things, Mongo is a FA we don't know at this point how much it will cost to re-sign him). 

 

Also not sold on a proposal "let's cut Mitch Morse and throw a rookie C into the mix with no Plan B".  But drafting a player who can play both C and G seems like a good plan.

 

Morse has a few more years under contract so I would not expect him to be cut unless there is some kind of injury clause where it is no longer viable for him to play. This would be someone they plan to groom who can backup guard and center next year.

 

Deep draft this year for center:

 

Georgia's Trey Hill: 

Oklahoma's Creed Humphrey

Ohio's Josh Meyers

 

Wisconsin Whitewater's  Quinn Meinerz is one of those later round Div 3 guys you never see on the radar and he also did not get a chance to play out the season because of Covid-19 shutdown at his school, BUT I was looking at Senior Bowl reports and he has had a decent showing against a lot of high-profile competition. Beane and company have a history of leaning towards guys that they like in the Senior bowls if they fall to them.

 

So if there was ever a year to switch gears and dive in and look for that guy that may not offer as much flexibility in regards to pulling and blocking in space but has the potential to completely own the gaps from G to G in pass-pro and in run support there are prospects.

 

 

 

 

 

Edited February 2, 2021 by WideNine

[Ray Stonada]

12 hours ago, Billl said:

Allen completed 70% of his passes to pass catchers other than Knox.  He completed 54.5% to Knox.  That’s a huge problem.  He only caught 24 passes all year, and he fumbled twice losing both.  Beane has to fix the position in the off-season.

 

Exactly. We desperately need someone to reliably make the catches that automatically open up if a defense keys on Diggs, Beasley and Brown. And not to whiff completely on 20% of their run blocks. Basically, a JAG would be an improvement over Knox and his penchant for negative plays.

 

[Thurman#1]

10 hours ago, RunJoshRun said:

Edmunds - more time??  He's gradually getting worse at the MLB position  year after year.

 

 

No, he really isn't.

 

Two Pro Bowls make it quite clear. Yeah, he was bad early when fighting the injury and when the Bills had injury and scheme problems. Since then he's been much better. There's still room for improvement, but an offseason should hopefully help with that.

[machine gun kelly]

Thurm, I don’t know if you’re in this camp, but Edmunds progressed well his rookie year, but that was partially because Star clogged up a Center and possibly Guard allowing Edmunds to play in space.  Between Star out and his injury in the beginning of this year, it made it more difficult for Edmunds to shine, but he adjusted as the year went on.  
 

Edmunds isn’t going anywhere.  By the way some people are posting, you’d think we finished 7-9.

[Philly McButterpants]

1 hour ago, Thurman#1 said:

 

 

No, he really isn't.

 

Two Pro Bowls make it quite clear. Yeah, he was bad early when fighting the injury and when the Bills had injury and scheme problems. Since then he's been much better. There's still room for improvement, but an offseason should hopefully help with that.

 

Two Pro bowls do NOT make it "quite clear."  I don't know WTF you are watching dude, but you are certainly NOT watching the same player i am - unless you are a) Edmunds himself or b) Edmunds' Mom.  He is not a difference maker in any way.  

[billspro]

On 1/30/2021 at 6:40 AM, TN Bills Fan said:

Morse is overrated.  Move him and his salary out.  Bates might be an answer.  Boettger is a nice backup.  Ford is your left guard. Williams is your right tackle.  Keep Feliciano at guard/center and draft a guard or center,  

Im not an oline expert but the line seems to run the ball much better when Feliciano is at C. Pass protection is much more important though. 

[SCBills]

21 hours ago, 947 said:

Brown was really effective early this season as well, prior to the injury. People seem to forget those games when he was fully healthy.

He’s a speed receiver the wrong side of 30 and was injured almost all year.  
 

He’s been with us for two playoff runs and underwhelmed in both.  
 

Significant cap relief if we cut him. 
 

I think it’s time to move on.  
 

Edited January 31, 2021 by SCBills

[Max Fischer]

Subscribe to the Athletic.  More than worth the money and keeps good reporters employed. 

 

 

[Beast]

Not a surprise with what he said about Dawson Knox. The Bills need serious upgrades there because there is nothing he does particularly well.

 

In fact, I believe Lee Smith is more valuable to this team.

 

 

Edited January 31, 2021 by Beast

[machine gun kelly]

Beast, I’d keep him, but only as a backup and upgrade however possible.  My reasoning is we don’t have that many options. Lee Smith can block and as we saw this year catch, but you can time him with a calendar.  You can’t have Knox as a starter when he’s only catching 50% of the time.  The only reason to retain as a backup is a lot of starting TE’s grow into their position.  Even Tony Gonzalez took until year 3 where he took off.  Knox will never be him, but as a backup maybe his third year he improves.  For sure, he’s NOT a starter.

[GreggTX]

I'll preface my remarks by saying that we have the highest paid DL in the NFL, but on the field, they are average on their best days. I'm glad Oliver plays well against backups, but I still say he wasn't worth a top 10 pick. Murphy and Lotulelei need to move on and I'd add Addison, but I'm assuming we'd have to eat a lot of dead money to move him. Correct me if I'm wrong about him though. I'd love to see us add JJ Watt while unloading some of these guys. Maybe Oliver and Hughes would be better if we added Watt. He's getting up there, but has had no lasting injuries. Muscle tears can heal up nicely so maybe we could still get 4 really good years from him. We could possibly even negotiate a new contract for him as well.

 

I'll never understand all the adulation for Feliciano. He's just an average NFL G, but people talk like he's one of the better G's in the NFL. He's OK. The real issue is that after Feliciano, we got nuthin at G. Ford and Boettger are just awful. I can only hope that Ford will come back healthy and justify his high 2nd round selection. If the Bills wanted, they could trade for a guy like Trent Brown and move D Williams inside.

 

Of course, this all assumes that we make room to add upgrades, but it's doable. We certainly have some overpaid guys on this roster. Above all, Beane MUST get better results from his 1st and 2nd round selections. So far, Allen has been the only solid value there.

[Not at the table Karlos]

22 hours ago, Thurman#1 said:

 

 

No, he really isn't.

 

Two Pro Bowls make it quite clear. Yeah, he was bad early when fighting the injury and when the Bills had injury and scheme problems. Since then he's been much better. There's still room for improvement, but an offseason should hopefully help with that.

Pro bowls are a joke and shouldn’t be used to judge how good a player is. Tyrod was invited to 2 pro bowls. 

Edited February 1, 2021 by Not at the table Karlos

[Thurman#1]

21 hours ago, Philly McButterpants said:

 

Two Pro bowls do NOT make it "quite clear."  I don't know WTF you are watching dude, but you are certainly NOT watching the same player i am - unless you are a) Edmunds himself or b) Edmunds' Mom.  He is not a difference maker in any way.  

 

 

You're right. If someone is unwilling to see, even two Pro Bowls won't make it quite clear. And when a guy is unwilling to see, he will indeed not be watching the same thing as everyone else is.

 

The two Pro Bowls tell you what everyone else sees, but they can't force sense on anyone.

[Thurman#1]

21 minutes ago, Not at the table Karlos said:

Pro bowls are a joke and shouldn’t be used to judge how good a player is. Tyrod was invited to 2 pro bowls. 

 

 

You're right. When you look at the Pro Bowl rosters year after year you see what a joke they are. Year after year you see lineups that would be defeated by any NFL team out there ... oh, wait, you really don't see that at all. What you see is a lineup that is better than any single team's even the SB teams. Should Pro Bowls be used as the only thing to judge how good a player is? Hell, no. But they absolutely mean something.

 

And yes, Tyrod was invited to two Pro Bowls ... as a 6th alternate and I think the other was the 4th alternate. It ain't the same thing. Edmunds on the other hand was the first alternate last year, meaning that he was widely considered a top 3 ILB in the AFC at that point. This year he was a selection, not an alternate, meaning he was considered a top two AFC ILB.

 

If someone wants to argue that he's a bit below top two, that's a reasonable argument. But the whole "it's a joke" thing is nonsense. He wasn't good at the beginning of the year when injured. But by the end, when they were voting, he was playing at a very high level. That's what people saw and why he was voted in.

 

Did he play as well against the Chiefs? Nope, he sure didn't. But neither did Allen, Diggs ... the list goes on.

[Thurman#1]

22 hours ago, machine gun kelly said:

Thurm, I don’t know if you’re in this camp, but Edmunds progressed well his rookie year, but that was partially because Star clogged up a Center and possibly Guard allowing Edmunds to play in space.  Between Star out and his injury in the beginning of this year, it made it more difficult for Edmunds to shine, but he adjusted as the year went on.  
 

Edmunds isn’t going anywhere.  By the way some people are posting, you’d think we finished 7-9.

 

 

Yup. The McDermott defense calls for a light-in-the-pants DL, with one exception. He wants that big 'ol space-eater at 1-tech to make it easier for the fast LBs he likes. Losing Star hurt a lot, and made the DL as a whole look not as good.

 

McDermott's always had a massive 1-tech jamming things up in the middle. He needs it that way for the D to work at it's maximum level.

[oldmanfan]

If I were Edmunds, and if I were his coaches, I'd make a phone call to Luke Keuchly (spelling??) and arrange for Edmunds to watch film with him for hour after hour this offseason.  Edmunds has all the physical gifts, but he needs to react to what's in front of him more quickly.  Having the guy who was a perennial All Pro in that position for McD's defense tutoring him would help immensely.  

[TheFunPolice]

I want some monsters on the OL/DL

 

PLEASE get at least one 340+ pound guy with the attitude and mindset of Feliciano. 

 

Oliver would benefit from a gigantic DT taking on blocks. Star will help, but he is a little slight at only 315 pounds, assuming that number is correct.

 

My wish list includes the 360 pound DT from Florida (Slayton) to put next to Oliver and Aaron Banks, the 330 pound guard from Notre Dame. Both would add some size and tenacity to the lines. 

[SirAndrew]

Feliciano is insanely overrated around here. He has the former Raider steak of nastiness and fighting post whistle that fans love. It doesn’t take away the fact he gets beaten on a regular basis.